Plant Pest Repellants List

Hi - I thought maybe others might benefit from this as I have, so I typed up this list I found at the US Agriculture's website: www.nrcs.usda.gov

PEST PLANT REPELLANT

Ants -- Mint, tansy, pennyroyal

Aphids -- Mint, garlic, chives, coriander, anise

Bean leaf beetles -- Potato, onion, turnip

Codling moths -- Common oleander

Colorado Potato Beetle --Green beans, coriander, nasturtium

Cucumber beetles -- Radish, tansy

Flea beetles -- Garlic, onion, mint

Imported cabbage worms-- Mint, sage, rosemary, hyssop

Japanese beetles -- Garlic, larkspur, tansy, rue,
Geranium

Leafhoppers -- Geranium, petunia

Mexican bean beetles --Potato, onion, garlic, radish,
petunia, marigold

Mice -- Onion

Root-knot nematodes -- French marigold

Slugs -- Prostrate rosemary, wormwood

Spider mites -- Onion, garlic, cloves, chives

Squash bugs -- Radish, marigold, tansy,
nasturtium

Stinkbugs -- Radish

Thrips -- Marigold

Tomato hornworms -- Marigold, sage, borage

Whiteflies -- Marigold, nasturtium

Nice list. Mice also hate the smell of mints, esp. peppermint. Flies hate the smell of tansy. Debby

Do you just plant these where you may need protection from these pests? I have seen Marigold planted around tomatoes before, I just thought it was ornamental.
Julie

My uncle-in-law plants marigolds throughout his entire garden.

Nematodes are attracted to marigold roots, but when a nematode attacks, the root releases ozone, killing the nematode. I don't know if marigolds have other uses outside of killing nematodes, but this is good enough for me.

The latest (February/March) Mother Earth News has a major feature story on companion plantings that goes into some detail.

Great list! I'm going to copy and save it!

If the onion deter the mice, think the ornamental chives planted at their favorite entry spots to under my proch would help? I'm gonna try it!

Mamakane, While the onions are growing (slow) and before they are big enough to do the job maybe spraying the area with a garlic spray would work.

Marigolds are great in repelling flea beatles, also. I read this years ago in Organic Farming and Gardening, tried it, and it works! I plant it through-out my tomato plants and never have a problem with these little pests.

Great list mom24! Thanks! I've tried many of those and have had good luck. I couldn't garden without petunias, nasturtiums, marigolds, and radishes. I plant the first 3 all throughout my garden. I plant a lot of radishes as well but especially among my cucumbers and squash. Last summer the radish plants were skeletonized but the cucumber and squash vines were left virtually untouched. I have a similar story with my bush beans using petunias.

Pete,

Can you tell me more abut the petunias & bush beans?

So far, radishes have worked well for me with my pole beans. But petunias would sure brighten things up (like the borage does in the tomatoes).

What are you using the petunias to control? How thickly do you plant them? Do you think this would work as well with pole beans as bush varieties?

Thanks.

mamakane, here are a few things that might work for your mice problem:

1. Scatter fresh or dried mint or holly leaves as a repellent. Mice are supposed to hate the stuff and won't go near it.
2. Plant "barriers" of perennial sweet peas (Lathyrus latifolius) which will repel mice.
3. Daffodils (Narcissus spp.), wood hyacinth (Scilla or squill) and grape hyacinth (Muscari) are said to repel rodents.
4. Planting herbs with a powerful scent will repel mice. Best choices are alliums, camphor plant, dwarf elder, elderberry, ,euphorbias, any mints, and wormwood.
5. As a very LAST resort: Slice up corks, mix with food grease (bacon grease, hamburger grease etc.) then scent this mixture with oil of anise. Put out for the rodents to eat. They love to eat it but can't digest it and die. This will kill the mice but you may be inviting some other pest into your yard.

Pete

Brook, I use petunias to control bean beetles and (knock on wood) so far it's worked. I plant 1 petunia plant every 4 feet. In addition, I also spot plant a marigold plant here and there...about 1 marigold plant every 8 feet. Since I started using petunias in addition to the marigolds I've had the best beans ever. No bugs! I think this will work for you and your pole beans, too. You're so right! Petunias sure do brighten up the garden.

Thanks, Pete, I'll give it a try this year.

By the way, although not a companion plant, you can control flea beatles with plasic collars you make from empty 2-liter pop bottles. Cut off the top and bottom, and divide the remaining tube in half. Then, when you transplant things suseptible to flea beatles, surround the seedling with one of these collars, pushing it about an inch into the ground. It serves as a physical barrier until the plant is large enough to withstand the onslaught.

Thanks, Brook! I'll sure give that a try this year in my garden. I think the biggest problem I have is the much dreaded grasshopper. Their population has increased so much the past couple of years that I'm going to have to put out something. If I just had a nickel for every grasshopper, I could retire and move to Bali.

oddly enough, they didn't do much damage here.

But you're right, they seem to have proliferated tremendously all through the south. We were covered up with them, but they seemed to prefer the overgrown areas to the garden.

I wonder if the dry years had something to do with it?

The killer for me were the cabbage butterflys. I had to destroy an entire cabbage crop (burn it, it was so infested). Even resorted to Seven dust, as a last resort, but the lopers seemed to treat it as dessert.

A couple points on the down side.

Remember Mint and Tansy are very invasive plants,

Spider mites love marigolds.

Happy to have found this most helpful information

Thank You, Everyone who contributed

arlene

Slugs also love marigolds. I use marigolds as a living fence around my bean patch every year to make bean beetles avoid them (works great!) and surround the marigolds which attract slugs with crushed egg shells that slice them up and they quickly die. Works like a charm! Now if I could only surround my whole yard with marigolds and crushed egg shells! (I briefly microwave the eggshells to eliminate the possibility of spreading salmonella in my garden).